Letter to the Editor: Violence arises from corrupted society

On April 14 we were treated to an erudite display of sociological jargon and response to an increasingly troubling issue: violent sociopathic behavior (“A regionwide response to school violence,” Christian Vaccaro). This is not a problem that can be addressed by another conference among the members of the choir, who convene, congratulate themselves on each others’ pontifications and disperse thinking that they have accomplished something.

The problem arises from the basest motivations of humanity. It cannot be solved by intellectualism. As the problem has arisen from a corrupted societal base, so must its solution address those corruptions. Here is how I see its mitigation:

(1) It must be noted that the areas most subject to violence are those that are the most defenseless: schools, army posts and cities with the most restrictive gun laws. If we don’t want violence there, then these areas should be the most effectively defended by the individuals themselves. They must be publicly allowed and encouraged to do so.

(2) The celebration of these acts must stop. The media are the worst offenders, as they obsess on these events. Yes, the events are newsworthy, but they should be reported the next day only, and by a buried limited article. The media know how to do this on ideological issues that do not support their position. It must be done with subjects of public violence.

(3) Gratuitous violence pervasive in the media should be curtailed. They knew how to do this 60 years ago, and they did very well with their self-policing code of conduct. And we did not have the problem we have today.

(4) A reliance upon self-responsibility for one’s person and one’s acts must be restored. In recent years this has been wrested from us by the nanny state, which penalizes success, rewards failure and explains antisocial acts on some nebulous failure of society instead of failure of the individual. People must be allowed to fail and suffer the consequences, and encouraged to succeed and reap the rewards of success.

There have always been and always will be demented individuals. More must be done to identify them early and to cure or segregate them from society.

History has shown how our society has increasingly bred psychopaths and sociopaths. It is therefore known what society must do to reverse the process. All that is needed is the concerted will to do it — or we will continue to suffer the consequences.